Moose beat Sea Dogs 3-1 as regular season winds down

Maybe we can just chalk up Friday’s game at the Metro Centre as the calm before the storm.

The Halifax Mooseheads beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 3-1 in front of a sellout crowd in what was likely a post-season preview. The odds are good the teams will meet in the first round but there wasn’t anything close to playoff intensity in this one.

“I think we didn’t play to our potential,” said Mooseheads winger Liam Alcalde. “We played a good game but we could’ve played a lot better. We didn’t win the little battles that we should’ve won; we were trying to make the harder plays. It’s good to get the win but we wanted to play better than that.”

Dominic Beauchemin scored for Halifax in the first period and Darcy Ashley made it 2-0 with a power-play goal in the second. Nathan MacKinnon rounded out the Halifax scoring with a third-period goal.

“We came into the game with a positive attitude,” said Mooseheads goalie Chris Clarke. “Obviously we wanted to win the game but we wanted to send a message. We think we’re playing them in the first round of the playoffs and we wanted to send a message and let them know what they’re going to see.”

Clarke made his second straight start and stopped 22 shots. Andreas Tsogkas spoiled his shutout bid with a short-handed goal late in the third period. Sebastien Auger made 24 saves for the Sea Dogs.

“Obviously I care about my personal performance but the end result is we won,” Clarke said. “I’m not going to look back with any regrets, that’s for sure.”

Ashley also had an assist to extend his points streak to 15 games (25 points) and Jonathan Drouin stretched his streak to 29 games with an assist (65 points). MacKinnon also reached 12 straight games with a point (22 points).

Drouin also remained in a tie with P.E.I. Rocket forward Ben Duffy for first place in the league scoring race with 105 points in 48 games.

“We want to get them the points,” Alcalde said of the players on streaks. “And we want to see Jo win the scoring race but I don’t think even he cares about the scoring race as much as he wants to win.”

The victory keeps the Mooseheads unbeaten in regulation time in their last 16 games (15-0-1-0) and they improve their league-best record to 57-6-3-1. Should the Mooseheads win Sunday’s season finale at home against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, they will tie the league record for wins (58) and set a new mark for winning percentage. The 1970-71 Quebec Remparts hold the current record at .879 and the Mooseheads sit at .881.

“It’s there, obviously,” Alcalde said. “It’s nice to be that team who has all those records but we’re more concerned about the win than anything else.”

The Sea Dogs players and staff made special arrangements to get to Cole Harbour earlier in the day to attend ex-teammate Stephen MacAulay’s mother’s funeral. Former Sea Dogs star Jonathan Huberdeau also took a break from his schedule with the Florida Panthers to fly to town to attend. MacAulay spent four-and-a-half seasons with the Sea Dogs before being traded to the Mooseheads in January. His mother Jean passed away earlier in the week after a long battle with cancer.

“The second we heard about it we made the plan that no matter what we weren’t going to miss it,” said Sea Dogs captain Pierre Durepos. “Whatever it was going to take, we were going to be here and I think he appreciated that.”

Game 1 of the playoffs will be on Friday at the Metro Centre.

“We’re starting to get in the mood,” Alcalde said. “We’ve been talking about it a little more lately. We have meetings this week for it so it’s cool now. We’re getting all pumped up for it.”

Titan 7, Screaming Eagles 5: At Bathurst, N.B., Zach O’Brien scored a pair of third-period goals to help the Titan pull out the win.

Oceanic 9, Cataractes 4: At Shawinigan, Que., Rimouski scored four unanswered goals in the third period to pull away for the win.

Notes: Ryan Falkenham did not play for Halifax because of a concussion and Luca Ciampini was sick. MacAulay, Brendan Duke and Stefan Founier were scratched. ... The Buffalo Sabres reassigned forward Mikhail Grigorenko to the Quebec Remparts on Friday.